Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device and an imaging apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-26675, a CMOS image pickup device, for example for use in an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera, may include an increased number of pixels because of miniaturization of pixels, and is capable of capturing high-definition images. Recent imaging apparatuses for consumers may generally include 10 million pixels or more.
FIG. 14 is a configuration. block diagram of such a general imaging apparatus. Referring to FIG. 14, an image pickup device 1500 includes a pixel part 1501, an analog to digital (AD) conversion unit 1502, and a P/S conversion unit 1503. The pixel part 1501 converts a subject image to an electrical signal and outputs it to the AD conversion unit 1502.
The AD conversion unit 1502 converts an image signal read. from the pixel part 1501 to a digital signal. The P/S conversion unit 1503 performs parallel-serial conversion on the digital signal converted by the AD conversion unit 1502. An image signal processing circuit 1600 performs a signal process on an image signal from the image pickup device 1500.
The imaging apparatus has a transfer path having a constant transfer capability for transferring an image signal from the image pickup device 1500 to the image signal processing circuit 1600. Thus, an increased number of pixels in the image pickup device may relatively result in an increased transfer time of all image signals of a subject.
In other words, the speed for reading signals from the image pickup device 1500 to the image signal processing circuit 1600 may be a bottleneck in the speed for reading out image signals. Furthermore, such high speed transfer may increase the amount of power consumed and the amount of heat generated by the transfer circuit and the processing circuit, which may reduce the precision of the data transfer.